Driver seat ‘avatar’ could improve F1 racing seats

The team believes that the study, which aimed to develop a more detailed understanding of how a driver physically fits in a car, could improve a driver’s comfort and performance through supporting race seat construction and improving fit ergonomics.

Currently, the most common industry approach for producing a custom race seat relies on a labour intensive, highly subjective process that has not developed over the past two decades. It often leads to the seat being made multiple times until a driver is happy, because of difficulties observing their position and time constraints, the team said.

Researchers from Portsmouth University’s School of Sport, Health and Exercise Science have introduced scientific methods to the process and created a digital ‘avatar’ of Williams driver Nicholas Latifi to simulate his seated position.

According to the team, they did this by building a musculoskeletal model using 3D scanning in computer aided design (CAD) software.

Dr Chris Mills, senior lecturer in biomechanics at Portsmouth University said that the project also has the potential to impact safety by allowing the team to look at what the driver’s musculoskeletal system is doing.